Doctors’ shortage crisis worsens: Lincolnshire neurology service closed to new patients

Businesses in Lincoln(shire) are gearing up for welcoming customers indoors on May 17 as lockdown restrictions are eased.

As of Monday, May 17, pubs, restaurants and coffee shops can reopen indoors to serve food and drink for customers, a month after they could reopen outdoors.

A number of establishments have been unable to reopen until this stage of the roadmap, due to not having enough outdoor space to safely and legally reopen in April.

Those that have reopened have been able to serve people outside, without the 10pm curfew that was brought in last year, and also without the need to order a substantial meal with drinks.

From May 17, up to 30 people will be allowed to gather outdoors but the rule of six or two households will remain in place for indoor venues.

The rolling list of places opening for indoor service in Lincoln and surrounding villages on May 17 is:

• 200 Degrees
• ASK Italian
• Bar Unico
• Bells Tea Shop
• Bentley’s Bar
• Black Bull (Opening Friday, May 21)
• Cafe Zoot
• Caffe Portico
• Churchills
• Coffee Aroma
• Coffee Cats Lincoln
• Coffee Corner
• Colbourne’s Cafe
• Craft
• Dambusters Inn
• Doddington Cafe
• Doddington Coffee Shop
• Dog and Bone
• Elite on the Bail (Opening Tuesday, May 18)
• Frankie & Benny’s
• Fridays (Opening Wednesday, May 19)
• Fox and Hounds
• Gino’s Ristorante
• Grand Coffee House
• Harrows Inn (North Hykeham)
• Harvester
• Horse & Groom
• Huckleberrys Bar & Grill (Opening Thursday, May 20)
• Kaspas Desserts
• La Bottega Delitalia (Opening Thursday, May 20)
• Lake View Cafe and Restaurant
• La Trattoria Da Vincenzo
• MaCh
• Madame Waffle (Opening Wednesday, May 19)
• Mamma’s Italian Bistro (Opening Tuesday, May 18)
• Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill
• Margaret’s Tea Rooms
• Nando’s
• Nosey Parker
• Ole Ole Tapas Bar
• Pimento (Opening Tuesday, May 18)
• Pizza Express (High Street and Brayford Wharf North)
• Prezzo
• Pyewipe Inn
• Quayside Coffee
• Queen in the West
• Red Five
• Rising Cafe
• Ritz (Wetherspoon)
• Samba Brazil
• Slug & Lettuce
• Square Sail (Wetherspoon)
• Stags Head
• Stokes Tea & Coffee (High Bridge opening Tuesday, May 18)
• Stokes Lawn Cafe
• Tap & Spile
• The Adam and Eve (Wragby)
• The Barge
• The Bentley Hotel & Spa
• The Birdcage
• The Blacksmiths Arms (Bracebridge Heath)
• The Botanist
• The Bottle and Glass (Harby)
• The Bull (Bracebridge Heath)
• The Cardinal’s Hat
• The Cosy Club
• The Crown and Arrows
• The Dandy Lion
• The Duke William
• The Electric
• The Ferry Boat (Washingborough)
• The Garden Tea Room
• The Gatehouse Inn (Bracebridge)
• The George (Langworth)
• The Golden Eagle
• The House of Pho
• The Jews House Restaurant
• The Jolly Brewer
• The Imp & Angel
• The Lincoln Green (North Hykeham)
• The Lincoln Imp
• The Lincolnshire Poacher
• The Lion and Snake
• The Mailbox
• The Morning Star
• The Plough (Bracebridge)
• The Plough (Nettleham)
• The Prince of Wales Inn
• The Pyewipe
• The Royal Oak (Aubourn)
• The Royal William IV
• The Still
• The Strait and Narrow
• The Swanholme Tavern
• The Tower Hotel
• The Treaty of Commerce
• The Victoria
• The White Hart (Nettleham)
• The William Foster
• The Witch and Wardrobe
• Toby Carvery
• Towers
• Treaty of Commerce
• Trebles
• Union Bar
• Wagamama
• Walkabout
• White Hart Hotel
• Wildwood
• Woodcocks (Burton Waters)
• Zizzi

If you own/run a bar or restaurant and are getting ready to reopen, please email [email protected] to be included in the list.

There have been no COVID-related deaths recorded in Greater Lincolnshire in the last five days, with just 44 new coronavirus cases reported on Wednesday.

The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 19 cases in both Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire and six in North East Lincolnshire on May 12.

NHS England has also reported no new local deaths across Greater Lincolnshire’s hospitals for the fifth day in a row and currently stands at 1,305 since the pandemic started.

On Wednesday, national cases increased by 2,284 to 4,441,975, while deaths rose by 11 to 127,640.

In local news, several signs at a school in Cleethorpes have been defaced with stickers encouraging lockdown breaches by an anonymous movement called The White Rose.

The anti-lockdown messages on the signage at Thrunscoe Primary and Nursery Academy included “Staying human is more important than living in fear.”

The Local Vaccination Centre (LVC) at the Meres Leisure Centre, Grantham has recently given its 100,000th vaccination.

This comes just five months since it opened and only eight weeks since it celebrated reaching 50,000 vaccinations.

Since Monday, Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates have fallen slightly, with increases in Lincoln city, East Lindsey, West Lindsey and North East Lincolnshire.

However, the region is still above the England average, which has seen a slight increase in its rate of infection over the last two days.

Here are Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates up to May 12, according to the government dashboard:

Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from May 3 to May 12. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite

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Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Wednesday, May 12

Greater Lincolnshire includes Lincolnshire and the unitary authorities of North and North East (Northern) Lincolnshire.

60,140 cases (up 44)

• 41,748 in Lincolnshire (up 19)
• 9,672 in North Lincolnshire (up 19)
• 8,720 in North East Lincolnshire (up six)

2,192 deaths (no change)

• 1,617 from Lincolnshire (no change)
• 307 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
• 268 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,305 hospital deaths (no change)

• 812 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (no change)
• 41 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
• 1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
• 451 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (no change)

4,441,975 UK cases, 127,640 deaths

DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF the latest update. postcode data includes deaths not in healthcare facilities or in hospitals outside authority boundaries.

Doctors, paramedics and pilots took on their first mission from Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance’s new purpose-built headquarters on Tuesday.

The charity was given the keys to its new HQ on the A15 Sleaford Road next to RAF Waddington in April. It’s situated just 200m away from RAF Waddington, which has been home to LNAA’s helicopter since 1994.

The helicopter relocated from RAF Waddington during the afternoon on Tuesday, May 11 and a video was captured of its final flight to the new base.

The medical teams, helicopter and Critical Care Cars have now relocated to the new premises, with the rest of the LNAA team joining them later in June.

The new airbase features a purpose-built hangar with space to enable on-site engineering, a bespoke helipad equipped with state-of-the-art landing lights, and enhanced training facilities for crew members.

The critical care team were tasked just after 10am on Tuesday, May 11 as they were called to a crash on the East Coast of Lincolnshire.

The new airbase features a bespoke helipad equipped with state-of-the-art landing lights.

Clinical Director Doctor Gareth Davies said: “The first mission from our new headquarters was an historic landmark for our service.

“We are delighted to see our crews now operational from this new facility, which will allow us to continue providing the best clinical care for the people of Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and beyond.”

The new facility will bring charity staff and crew together under one roof for the first time in the charity’s 27-year history.

To support the funding of their new home, the charity received a capital grant of £1.82 million from the Department of Health and Social Care.

Karen Jobling, Chief Executive Officer at LNAA, with Group Captain Stephen Kilvington, Station Commander at RAF Waddington. | Photo: James Skerrett

Karen Jobling, Chief Executive Officer at LNAA, said: “LNAA has come a long way since its beginnings and today is such an exciting and important time stamp in the Charity’s history.

“Seeing the crew and the helicopter every day will be inspiring to everyone here, a wonderful reminder of why we all do what we do.

“This new home is integral to our journey for clinical independence with better facilities for our air operations and training.

“We don’t underestimate just how important it is to us all that we are now under one roof, enabling us to work more closely together and raise the funds we need to enable our clinicians to respond in an emergency.”

The Station Commander at RAF Waddington, Group Captain Stephen Kilvington, said on Tuesday: “It’s quite a sad day for us here at RAF Waddington. The Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance has been associated with our station for 27 years, where they have been providing a fantastic service to Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and the wider community.

“While we are sad that they are leaving the station, we know that this new facility will help them to provide that service to an even better level. They will continue to be our neighbours and we’re looking forward to continuing that working relationship with them.”